Sunday, October 17, 2010

Otter Creek

The fourth creek to have an impact upon my family's story was Otter Creek. After Richard Henderson was denied his investment into the foundation of Kentucky on 4 November, 1778, he registered surveys for 1400 acres on Otter Creek. This was just a hop, skip, and jump from the fort he established as part of his Transylvania Company. The surveys were dated 9 Feb. 1780 and 23 June 1780. The picture above again shows the Kentucky River (colored blue) and the outline of Otter Creek (colored orange). The little tags naming the rivers are scaled to represent three miles distance. The small pencil dot northwest of the mouth of Otter Creek is the location of fort Boonesborough. He did not move far up stream. The second picture shows a copy made by Richard Henderson himself of the fort he was responsible for building. A copy of his very signature is shown in the middle of the drawing. Henderson's cabin is of course numbered 1 and his kitchen is number 3. The original papers are now in possession of the Wisconsin Historical Library.

So there you have it. The Rivers were the roadways to our families' lands. Henderson on Otter Creek (my great grand mother's line), Jones on 4 Mile Creek (my Dad's family), Ewen on Red River (my Mom's side of the family)and at lot of others in between.